A career criminal broke into a neglected-looking Far East Dallas home Thursday night thinking the homeowner had died and his belongings were there for the taking, police said.

But the homeowner, William Keith Hall, wasn’t dead after all. He shot the burglar, Jerry Wayne Hale, then stood over him in an alley with a gun in hand, police said. Hall told Hale, 30, that he wanted to shoot him again.

When police arrived, Hall pointed the 9 mm pistol — which had stopped working — at them and witnesses. Officers ordered Hall to drop his weapon and when he refused, they fatally shot the 57-year-old man.

Maj. Jeff Cotner of the crimes against persons division said Friday that responding officers didn’t realize in all the chaos that Hall was defending his home in the 10300 block of Sandra Lynn Drive.

But Cotner said Hall “had plenty of opportunities to de-escalate” the situation.

“He was given plenty of notice, and he didn’t choose a path other than to confront officers,” Cotner said.

Police received a 911 call around 7:45 p.m. Thursday from a contractor working on a nearby house. The caller told police about the shooting and said that when witnesses got near Hall, he pointed a gun at them and “tried to shoot” them. Cotner said Hall repeatedly tried to manipulate the gun’s jammed slide to fire it again, but to no avail.